KEN GARCIA -- Muni Chief -- Pay Now Or Pay Later / Higher fare or new tax will save system, he says

KEN GARCIA

Published
4:00 am PST, Saturday, December 6, 1997

1997-12-06 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The Municipal Railway carries about 4.2 million passengers each week, which helps explain why there are so many unhappy campers in San Francisco. (Campers, as opposed to riders, spend a long time in one place.)

That makes Muni by far the most-used urban transit system in the country on a per capita basis. It also suggests why there are so many riders who spend so much time wondering when they will get where they want to go -- or if they will get there at all.

Muni suffers from more illnesses than a hypochondriac, although its ailments are very real.

It is severely underfunded, and until recently, historically mismanaged. Its equipment is tired, antiquated and in desperate need of replacement. It does not have enough drivers or mechanics to meet its service levels or -- due to archaic Civil Service regulations -- an ability to hire replacements quickly. And its accountability and efficiency has been obtusely defused between the mayor, the Public Transportation Commission and the Board of Supervisors. Most of Muni's Boeing streetcars, which transportation chief Emilio Cruz says "were virtual garbage to begin with," have more than 2 million miles on them. On any given day, more than a third of the light-rail vehicle fleet is held in the yards for repairs. And those that are running, are breaking down with increasing regularity.

The majority of trolley buses have more than 500,000 miles on them. And of the 124 articulated (big) buses in the Muni fleet, "92 might be running on a good day," Cruz said.

"This is stuff that should have been recognized years ago," Cruz said.

He believes that the best and quickest answer to Muni's woes is a sizable increase in funding. As proof, he offers up figures that underscore Muni's position as the cheapest major municipal transit system in the country.

A Muni Fast Pass costs $35 a month. A similar ticket in Chicago costs $60. A round-trip ticket with a transfer in San Francisco costs less than $3. In New York, it costs $6. Muni is less expensive to ride than almost any transit system in the country, including BART and Caltrain and Metro systems in Washington, Los Angeles, Atlanta and New Jersey. And Cruz points out that cities like New York, which have greatly improved their transit systems, have done so with considerable fare increases.

"With those kind of resources, you could fix any system," Cruz says. "But Muni has been ignored for the last decade and a half -- by mayors, by Muni directors, by everyone. This organization lacked real goals, had no direction and no leadership."

If he stays on the job, Cruz said he is going to push for increased resources from one of three sources: the general fund, which now supplies most of the system's money, additional fare increases, or a new transportation tax that would require approval of two-thirds of the city's voters (and, Cruz believes, would allow passengers to ride for free.)

Recognizing that many frustrated and angry Muni patrons and city residents are likely to balk at such an assessment, Cruz offers this response:

"A lot of people will no doubt say that they will only be willing to pay for improvements after we fix the system. But that will never happen without a substantial resource commitment. And if more than one-third of the people of San Francisco won't pay for it, then we will have to live with the service based on the level of resources we give to it."

"Muni seems to be one of the lowest priorities of the Board of Supervisors and as long as they play politics with Muni, it's not going to be improved," he said.

However, a SPUR report released in April recommended that Muni not receive any substantial funding increase until it improved its performance, and Chappell said that at this point, "we're still not seeing enough improvements to justify an increase."

In addition, he said, a new transportation tax is not a realistic goal. "From what we hear, the chances of getting approval for a new assessment would be met with a resounding NO."

So Muni lurches on. Cruz said the agency is in the process of replacing up to 70 percent of its fleet by the year 2000, at a cost of up to $800 million. But at the same time, the system's infrastructure needs a complete overhaul, because while Muni is getting state-of-the- art equipment, it is running it on tracks and streets that should have been replaced more than a decade ago.

"Either the public needs to recognize the importance of the service and pay for it," Cruz said, "or it will have to learn to be comfortable with what we now have."

Note to readers: Cruz said yesterday that he has received 60 calls, 175 e-mails and 10 letters of support for him to remain. He apologizes that he can't respond to all the e-mails, because Muni is on an old computer system and it does not function properly. (Sorry, I don't make this stuff up.)